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CHICAGO — The Rev. Elizabeth A. Eaton, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), joined leaders from the National Council of Churches (NCC) in an open letter to Vice President Mike Pence, members of Congress and the Cabinet, calling for the removal of President Donald Trump from office. The letter states: "Our faith instructs us to take seriously positions of leadership, not to lead others astray and to be careful about what we say and do. "For the good of the nation, so that we might end the current horror and prepare the way for binding up...

The coronavirus death rate in the US is just over 1.25 percent of cases but first.... North Korea firing two short range missiles Saturday morning local time.... Saying the fight against Islamic State has made progress and out of concern for the coronavirus pandemic the US-led coalition in Iraq is reducing its military presence... At least two dozen Afghan police and military killed with others missing following an attack by Taliban connected forces.... The troubled US aircraft maker Boeing is getting a bailout from the federal government.... Moving to distance herself from the situation is the former UN Ambassador and...

Top U.S. intelligence officials gathered in the White House Situation Room in March to debate a controversial proposal. Counterterrorism officials wanted to create a government dragnet, sweeping up millions of records about U.S. citizens—even people suspected of no crime. ~ snip ~ The rules now allow the little-known National Counterterrorism Center to examine the government files of U.S. citizens for possible criminal behavior, even if there is no reason to suspect them. That is a departure from past practice, which barred the agency from storing information about ordinary Americans unless a person was a terror suspect or related to an...

Regulations recently signed into effect by Attorney General Eric Holder allow the National Counterterroism Center (NCTC) to monitor records of citizens for any potential criminal activity, without a warrant and without suspicion. According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, the records that will be subject to seizure and examination by the NCTC include “flight records, casino-employee lists, the names of Americans hosting foreign exchange students and many others.” Prior to the promulgation of these new regulations, such records were stored on only those citizens suspected of terror-related activity or as part of ongoing criminal investigations. Furthermore, this information...

I served 6 Presidents, 3 Rs & 3Ds. I directly supported Clinton, Bush 43, and Obama. While I didn't agree with all their policy choices, I admired and respected all of them, as they put country above their personal interests. Not so with you, as your self adoration is disgraceful https://t.co/A1brb0HW3V— John O. Brennan (@JohnBrennan) April 5, 2018

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The CEO of a company whose employee is accused of improperly looking at the passport files of presidential candidates is a consultant to the Barack Obama campaign, a source said Saturday. John O. Brennan, president and CEO of the Analysis Corp., advises the Illinois Democrat on foreign policy and intelligence issues, the source said. Brennan briefed the media on behalf of the campaign this month. The executive is a former senior CIA official and former interim director of the National Counterterrorism Center. He contributed $2,300 to the Obama campaign in January.

WASHINGTON – A growing number of religious groups are taking a stand against the bottling of water, stating the practice is immoral because water is a God-given resource that should not be packaged and sold, the Chicago Tribune reported recently in an article analyzing the trend. Cassandra Carmichael, director of eco-justice programs for the National Council of Churches, said in the story that privatization takes away water from those who cannot afford it and added that water "should be free for all." In October, the National Coalition of American Nuns, a group representing 1,200 Roman Catholic nuns in the US,...

There are reports of several injuries after gunfire erupted inside the New Castle County Court of Common Pleas in Wilmington, Delaware Monday morning. The shooting happened just after 8:00 a.m. at the court house, located at 500 N King Street.

Link only. Holder now has the right to keep dossiers on U.S. citizens. More here.

The Muslim Public Affairs Council’s choice of location for its 12th Annual Convention on December 15 is telling: The All Saints Episcopal Church of Pasadena, California. The group, founded by Muslim Brotherhood followers, says this is the “next step in its mission by crossing the interfaith line.” Yet again, the Islamists are taking advantage of naïve Christians with a desire to show off their tolerance. … Hassan Hathout says they sought to begin the “Islamic Movement” in the U.S., a term the Brotherhood uses to describe its ideology. In 1997, he predicted its success because “America needs Islam. If you...

An unholy alliance of gun prohibitionists, politicians, and certain church groups is pushing a so-called documentary called "Trigger: The Ripple Effect of Gun Violence" that will air on certain NBC owned and affiliated stations. The documentary is part of the Horizons of the Spirit series which airs on that network. The documentary is presented by the National Council of Churches and was produced by the Presbyterian Church USA. The documentary features such gun control luminaries as Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), Colin Goddard, and Dr. Garen Wintemute talking about how "gun violence" (sic) impacted their lives. In the United States more...

A House committee is planning to hold a hearing next week on the Libya consulate attack, following up on an issue that Republicans had emphasized before the presidential election in questioning President Obama's foreign policy record. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the consulate in Benghazi. A local Libyan extremist group is suspected of carrying out the attack, but the Obama administration has been criticized for its confusing explanation for the strike and for security warnings that apparently weren't heeded. The House Intelligence Committee will hold its hearing on the...

It is the year of the "ethics of energy," according to the National Council of Churches (NCC)..... .........Formerly overt supporters of communism, the NCC recast itself as a leader of the 'religious left.'" While the U.S. was fighting the Cold War, the NCC funded communist regimes in.... The NCC considers the U.S. "an oppressor, both at home and abroad".... ... Candidates should feel comfortable explaining their religious convictions to voters." But..."there is a point when an emphasis on religion becomes inappropriate and even unsettling in a religiously diverse society such as ours."... ........ReverendWright admired LouisFarrakhan....,and often praised him both in...

I am scheduled to be a reader at my church this Sunday on the Tenth anniversary of 9/11. Yesterday, the minister sent me the special 9/11 reading that was prepared by the National Council of Churches for parishioners to hear. While most of it was fine, there are some prayers that are appalling to any right-thinking Christian and deserve to be publicized for their stunning example of moral relativism and anti-Biblical message. "We stand together in penitence, recognizing that we have not done enough to address the sources of anger, hate, dehumanization, rage and indignation that lead to acts of...

Fifteen summers ago, America's news media informed us that black churches throughout the South were being torched by white racists. The purported wave of arsons dominated the airwaves and generated thousands of newspaper articles. Pundits, politicians and preachers decried the terrorism and the hate it represented. In fact, it never happened. Here is the little-known story of how an obscure radical group teamed up with a leftist national church organization, an unprincipled President and a legion of compliant news outlets to create a media firestorm -- one based entirely on lies.

Trends continue in church membership growth or decline, reports 2011 Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches New York, February 14, 2011 -- Growing churches continue to grow and declining churches continue to decline, according to the National Council of Churches' 2011 Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches. "The direction of membership (growth or decline) remains very stable," writ es the Yearbook's editor, the Rev. Dr. Eileen Lindner, in the newest edition released this week. "That is, churches which have been increasing in membership in recent years continue to grow and likewise, those churches which have been declining in recent years...

... the White House is again pushing for final passage of the Dream Act, hosting a conference call with religious leaders who are hoping to drive the deal home before everyone on Capitol Hill heads home for the holidays...According to Fox News producers on Capitol Hill, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., does intend to bring up the DREAM Act during this lame duck session. So, while lawmakers on the Hill scramble to get everything done, the White House put together another in a series of conference calls on the DREAM Act. Rabbi Jack Moline, from Congregation Agudas Achim in...

Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, chairman of the soi-disant Cordoba Initiative, has gotten all the attention he deserves for his astonishingly insensitive attempt to build a 13-story mosque and community center at the site of Ground Zero. Rauf has largely escaped attention for his efforts to build a sawed-off version of the same on the grounds of the venerable and historically Christian Chautauqua Institution in western New York State. Although the resistance to Rauf at Chautauqua has not made the news, it is deeply felt, and it is coming from both Christians and Jews. As shall be seen, the forced feeding...

ELCA pastor drives ‘God talk’ initiative By Susan Hogan* A UMNS Report CHICAGO – Can Christians discuss the language of faith without it becoming a battle over political correctness or theological orthodoxy? The National Council of Churches hopes so. To begin the conversation, its Justice for Women Working Group brought 28 people to Chicago in August for a three-day symposium, “Language Matters.” S. Kim Coffing, the lone United Methodist participant, did not know what to expect. “The issue of how we talk about God and faith stirs up pain for many people,” said Coffing, an executive with the denomination’s Commission...

Conducting “truth commissions” to denounce American armed forces and organizing divestment campaigns to cripple Israel are vital issues to some American church officials. Raising the banner of Intifada and expressing solidarity with Palestinians are also very important to this collection of liberal leaders. They “spiritualize” the Democratic immigration and health care reform agendas with pompous prayer, but their social justice-focused prophetic vision has strange blind spots. Leftist church leaders hardly ever see, let alone condemn, the imprisonment, enslavement, torture, and murder of Christians in the Islamic world, North Korea, and China. Church officials and partner organizations such as the National...